Today’s links are mostly a bunch of pictures/videos, but I suppose that’s the way things end up. I’ve been watching more Wimbledon than anything else, to be quite honest. But we’ll start with a few blog posts.

I recently finished a great Korean drama (tv show) called Hero (2012/OCN). I plan to review the whole show (it’s only 9 episodes) eventually, but if anyone is interested in what it is I like, you can watch the whole show on Hulu. Also, be sure to check out the kdrama City Hunter on Netflix Instant, it’s also good.

Some science! I follow KQED’s science tumblr and they posted a really fascinating video that NASA posted about some problems getting to Mars: Curiosity’s Seven Minutes of Terror.

More music, but this time of the kpop kind. Sometimes you need a little dance music to keep you going, and luckily the totally fabulous Jo Kwon (of the kpop ballad group 2AM, which I don’t listen to) has released a new album. I can tell you, with certainty, that it is delicious. If the album had been recorded by anyone else, I don’t think I would’ve liked it. But since it’s Jo Kwon, I can enjoy it without hesitation. You can watch the MV for his first single (be aware, it’s ridiculous) and listen to the other tracks over on Omona. It’s probably not your thing, but it’s surprisingly mine.

A little bit more music (that’s totally not your thing, I know). I haven’t been a big fan of women’s groups (I refuse to call them girl groups) in kpop, because they’re all basically the same (looks, sound, etc), since that’s what the kpop industry likes. But recently I’ve started getting into 2ne1. They’re more hip-hop than most male kpop hip-hop groups. I’ve only heard their Korean stuff, but you can listen to their music on youtube (probably both Korean and Japanese).

Today’s Friday links are brought to you by the first of June, with it’s chilly and rainy weather, along with the dulcet tones of Yoga Lin (I’m currently listening his album Perfect Life).

Speaking of Yoga Lin (see what I did there?), he released a new MV (aka music video) the same day I posted my review. You can watch it here (on his company’s YT channel), it even includes English subtitles and I quite like it.

My friend H sent me an article about bricks placed around Germany (NPR) as memorials to victims of the Nazis. I found the concept to be quite clever and thoughtful, it also made me want to go visit Germany in order to see some of them.

I come a family of science fiction fans, so I found this post about the 10 Great Science Fiction Books for People Who Don’t Read Sci-Fi (Flavorwire) to be kind of amusing. Many of these certainly wouldn’t be on my list, but then again I believe that if you want to get people to read SF books, you don’t give them SF books, you give them good crossover books. Of that list, I’ve read six of them (Ender’s Game, Gun with Occasional Music, The Handmaid’s Tail, The Stars are my Destination, Frankenstein and Dune ).

If you know me personally, or have read my about page, you know that I’ve got a thing for mandopop. There’s just something about Mandarin that I like. I mean, I like listening to Korean music (CNBlue, anyone?), but I really love the way Mandarin sounds. My friend H used the following analogy when I was trying to explain it to her; it’s like the difference between listening to German music and French music. You might like them both (and I do), but there’s just something about the French language that just sounds different/prettier. That’s how I feel about Mandarin. And while there are a lot of singers who I like, one of the guys who does it best is Yoga Lin.

He’s 24 years old and from Taiwan (which seems to be something of a theme for me). I really like his music, there’s something different about it. I recently purchased a copy of his second album, Senses Around (感官/世界) and I really like it. The above song is called 飄 (Gone With the Wind) and is my favorite off of that album. It’s slower than most of his songs, which generally sound like a mix of Sonndre Lerche, Rufus Wainwright and Wouter Hamel. The songs are a little poppy, but have this light, almost jazzy feel to them.

I really need to get actual cd copies of his other two cds, Mystery Guest (神秘嘉賓) and Perfect Life (美妙生活). But when I was driving home home from work one Thursday, I wasn’t quite in the mood for my audio book (A Wizard of Earth Sea) so I put Senses Around on and I couldn’t believe what good driving music it was (after I told H that it totally wasn’t good for that, I was so wrong).

Even though I don’t understand what he’s saying (yet), I just like the way he sings. His voice is really sweet and fun, and there’s just something comforting about the music. You can busy his music on YesAsia and listen to him sing/talk about YouTube.